Mac + Windows + Linux multi-system startup

Article Title: Mac + Windows + Linux multi-system startup. Linux is a technology channel of the IT lab in China. Includes basic categories such as desktop applications, Linux system management, kernel research, embedded systems, and open source.

Before entering the topic, you must first understand the Basic differences between the EFI-Extensible Firmware Interface (Extensible Firmware Interface) and BIOS-Basic Input Output System (Basic Input and Output System.

At present, Windows cannot support EFI because of the essential differences between the two in hard disk boot mechanisms:

● The operating system designed for BIOS relies on MBR (Master Boot Record Format, Master Boot Sector) to manage hard disk resources.
● The native Operating System Supported by EFI adopts the brand new GPT (Globally Unique Identifier Partition Table Format, Globally Unique Partition Table Format) technology.
We know that MBR is located in the first hidden sector of the hard disk, and it records the partition information of the hard disk. If you partition the hard disk directly during Windows installation, and the partition information is written to the MBR of the hard disk, the hard disk determines its partition based on the MBR content. MBR supports up to four primary partitions per disk, three primary partitions, and one extended partition (the extended partition can contain 23 logical partitions ).

Compared with the MBR partition style, the GPT partition style supports a maximum of 128 primary partitions per disk. The manageable storage resource range is far greater than that of MBR. In addition, GPT stores vital platform operation data in partitions rather than non-partitions or hidden sectors. In addition, GPT partitions have redundant primary and backup partition tables, which are used to improve the integrity of the partition data structure and support unique disk and partition ID (GUID ).

For a long time, the threshold for preventing EFI from entering a wide range of applications lies in the support of the operating system. It was once believed that Microsoft Windows Vista would become the first operating system to support EFI, but Microsoft has already publicly stated that Windows Vista still does not support EFI. In stark contrast to Microsoft's slow attitude, the Linux Industry is very positive for EFI. With intel's strong support, the Linux kernel has now achieved support for EFI. On the other hand, Apple became the first company to use EFI Technology in X86 PCs. Apple's core dual-core MacBook Pro took the lead in introducing the EFI technology to become an alternative, however, this has also plagued many users who intend to install Windows on Mac. Due to the fundamental differences in firmware interfaces, it is widely believed that normal users cannot install Windows on Macintosh computers. However, it didn't take long before Apple launched the public beta version of BootCamp software, so that ordinary users can easily install Tiger and Windows systems on Intel-based Macintosh computers, achieve the legendary Mac + Win Dual Boot!

However, with the increasing material and cultural needs of Apple users and the desire of Windows transfer students, the existing features of BootCamp cannot meet the needs of the public. So people have this question: Can I use BootCamp to implement more partitions or operating systems besides Mac OS X and Windows partitions?

BootCamp's answer:"Impossible!"

After research, in fact, the operating principle of BootCamp is only on the partition based on the GUID partition table, without re-partitioning the entire hard disk, the current partition size is directly changed, and the second partition is separated, the partition information is written into the EFI File System in the FAT/NTFS format, so that the partition information can be called by BootCamp or the boot disk. After figuring out how it works, I tried to use the command line without re-partitioning the entire hard disk, directly changing the size of the original partition and dividing the second partition.

The initial success gave me more confidence and allowed me to go through the research process for about a month. Since there is no reliable precedent reference, during the study, I was nearly mad at by countless blue screens, black screens, disk errors, installation failures, re-installation failures, and crashes, but every time there is a new breakthrough, the excitement makes me very happy, so I use "crazy, but happy" to describe this exciting experience!

In the following content, I will use Command, EFI, and BIOS modes to successfully bypass the limitations of the EFI technology and implement "Mac + Win + Linux multi-system startup (+ public partition)" on the Apple Computer )".

Now, let's make it impossible together...

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